Poaching of elephants and black rhinos in central and southern Africa has been a serious problem.
Over 700,000 elephants were lost to poachers collecting tusks for the valuable ivory.
Three quarters of Zimbabwe's rhino herds were wiped out.
In Asia powdered rhino horn is thought to increase sexual potency.
Yemen purchases the horns for sword handles.
The 1989 international trade ban on ivory cut down significantly on the loss of the elephant population.
Pouching is difficult to control because it provides immediate financial rewards to an impoverished population.
Kenya has been trying to protect its wildlife by offering financial incentives to local people through tourism, allowing limited hunting for food and protection of farmland, and support of small eco-culture businesses.
Large cats and some species of deer have also fallen victim to poachers.
Rwanda was losing its gorilla population to poachers who seized infants to send to zoos while slaughtering the adults.
Gorilla skulls were sold to native collectors.
In the Indian wildlife reserves of Ranthambhore, poachers hunted tigers, leopards, and other cats for their furs.
A national campaign, Project Tiger, has succeeded in protecting the tiger population, now on the increase.
In China, poaching is one factor for the decreasing number of pandas.
Even in the US poaching is a problem, particularly of birds of prey whose talons and feathers are considered collectors items.
In Northeastern US, more than 400 black bears were killed for their gall bladders which are prized as aphrodisiacs in the Far East.
